Internship Description

Several of our previous students have interned with Ashoka. Here are some descriptions (Ashoka and others) directly from students themselves:

I interned at international social entrepreneurship networking nonprofit Ashoka’s Japan branch in Ebisu, Tokyo. Working in a small office alongside Japanese professionals, I did Japanese-to-English translation under a mentor’s supervision for Ashoka Japan’s Changemaker mapping project, organizing data on potential Japanese community ventures to sponsor. I also edited their Youth Venture program’s English publications about Ashoka-sponsored youth entrepreneurs in Japan’s disaster-hit Tohoku region. Through 45+ hours in the office, assisting at a corporate presentation, and home-based translation, I learned about Japanese office culture, social entrepreneurship, and post-disaster reconstruction efforts, also contributing to my thesis research.

In order to gain hands-on experiences of adapting to a new and different working environment that may be greatly different from America’s, I decided to participate in an internship, which takes place in an organization named 民際センター (Minsai Center) located in Waseda, Tokyo. 民際センター is an international organization that makes school possible for the children in the underdeveloped countries, such as Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. My main job in the internship is to translate the documents from Japanese to English and vise-versa. In addition, I also summarize the documents’ content into a powerpoint, which will be needed when the chairman goes oversea for presentation.

"My internship consisted of three activities, including working at a public book café, participating with Osawadai Elementary School’s PTA after school program, and as a volunteer English ALT at Osawadai Elementary school. Through these three activities I communicated with children from as young as a year old to their early teens in Japanese as well as English. English speech only occurred while teaching as an ALT and while reading small books at the book café. I also had the opportunity to work with Japanese adults who promoted my presence as a foreigner and native English speaker."

"For Spring Semester 2014, I interned at the Saitama NPO Center, a small office in Saitama City that is dedicated to supporting local NPOs as they work towards their goals. My work consisted of two different types. The first was to attend NPO activities and write a short article about the NPO and the experience, to be posted on the Saitama NPO Center Facebook page. The second was an internship long survey where I collected data on whether or not the NPOs registered with the Center had homepages and email addresses. I summarized my findings in a report, and presented it to my colleagues at the end of my stay."

"This internship, spanning nine months from December 2013 to August 2014, occurred at the Cork Agency (http://corkagency.com/), one of the first literary agencies in Japan. The agency seeks to provide its contract creators with comprehensive creative support, ranging from in-house editing and publicity to the creation and marketing of digital editions of the creators’ works. Cork also takes a highly proactive approach to overseas development, and actively recruits translators, develops sustained contact with foreign publishing companies, and creates and maintains comprehensive English-language profiles for both its creators and their works. The content of the internship was focused on (though not exclusive to) projects related to overseas development and promotion. The largest project was the translation and creation of English-language summaries and introductions for each of the agency’s creators and their works for the Cork Rights Guide (a project that will continue to expand with the addition of new creators and works, now that it has been established). Other projects included the creation of sample translations of creators’ works for promotional purposes, the proofreading and editing of commissioned translations of both novels/short stories and manga, and the typesetting of the English-language edition of Chūya Koyama’s HaruJump (a one-volume manga) for electronic distribution."

"I interned at this school for two months, three days per week and 3-4 hours per day. My role as an intern was mainly interacting with the students and helping them with certain assignments and test preparations. Most of the time, I was assigned with students who require some kind of special assistance in their learning process. There were times where the teaching and learning process gets tougher than usual ant during such times; I had the chance to play interactive games and group activities with the students in order to regain their learning interest. In general, my internship experience was enjoyable and it has changed me in so many ways. I have received so much love and appreciation from my students and I have also learned a lot about my personal strengths and weaknesses." http://www.isstokyo.com/

"This semester I was an intern at Canvas NPO, a company dedicated to children, imagination, and digital picture books. Canvas holds workshops on Sundays in order to give children an opportunity to create something. During the weekdays I helped prepare the materials necessary for these workshops. The workshops on Sundays center around creativity and, most typically, I helped prepare craft projects for the children to participate in. Furthermore, I attended some workshops, at which I served in either the capacity of an instructor or as a photographer. On weekdays when I was not helping specifically with workshop preparation, I helped perform research regarding both international and domestic digital media created for children."

Internship Opportunities

While we do our best to assist students interested in pursuing an internship, we cannot guarantee an internship placement. The application process is competitive, and only qualified candidates will ultimately be offered an internship.

Internship possibilities span a wide range, and vary from site to site, but generally include government agencies, non-governmental organizations, businesses, the media, educational organizations, and the arts.

In any given year, however, we cannot guarantee an internship in a specific field or organization, though we will make every effort to accommodate. Please be aware that prospective internship providers normally expect candidates to have appropriate skills or background knowledge and interest in the field. In addition, students must have strong functional skills in the target language. If your language skills are not strong enough, you may not qualify for an internship.